


Hey Dad...

by Violent_Bulldog



Series: Lydia Deetz Has Bad Mental Health And Comes Out [3]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Acceptance, Accidental Homophobia, Anger, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apologies, Bad reactions, Blood, Blood and Injury, Coming Out, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Graphic Description, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Major Character Injury, Maybe a happy ending, Multi, Other, Sad with a Happy Ending, Scars, Self-Acceptance, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Snakes, Suicide Attempt, beetlebabes dni, depends on how you see it - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violent_Bulldog/pseuds/Violent_Bulldog
Summary: Hey Dad, I need a little help herePlease, I'm still your daughterPlease, Dad...(Read the tags for trigger warnings)
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Charles Deetz, Beetlejuice & Delia Deetz, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz & Lydia Deetz, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz, Charles Deetz/Emily Deetz, Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz, Emily Deetz & Lydia Deetz, Lydia Deetz/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Lydia Deetz Has Bad Mental Health And Comes Out [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1609843
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	Hey Dad...

**Author's Note:**

> Again, trigger warnings;  
> Self-Harm  
> Homophobia (Mild)  
> Suicide Attempt  
> Mentions of Panic Attacks

Lydia paced her room rapidly, chewing on her fingernails. BJ hang from the ceiling, watching her as if he was in a trance. He shook his head before hopping down in front of her, causing her to crash into him and fall to the floor. BJ smiled down at her as she glared up at him.

"Juiceface, I'm freaking out and you're really not helping right now" She muttered as she stood up, dusting her dress off. 

"You're getting worried over nothin' Scarecrow. This is Chucky we're talkin' about here! You're his kid, his only kid too, why wouldn't he support ya'?" The demon mussed as the breathing girl started to pace again. BJ sighed before he picked her up and placed her on her bed.

"You're givin' me a headache too, stay still" He grumbled. Lydia rolled her eyes at him, but stayed on her bed, drumming her feet against the floor instead.

"He's fine with the Maitlands and me, why wouldn't he be fine with you too?" BJ asked, hovering next to her. Lydia sighed, staring intently at her knees.

"I dunno, BJ. But, he doesn't really seem like the type of man to go around yelling 'My daughter is gay and I'm super proud of her for it', does he?" She flopped herself back on her bed, staring at the stars that were painted on her ceiling. It may have seemed childish, but Lydia loved it. Especially since her whole family, demon best friend and all helped paint them. BJ flopped down next to her a few moments later.

"Look, kid. He's your dad. You're like... the most important thing in the world to him, even beating Daphney to the top-"

"Delia"

"Same difference. Anyways, you're his kid. He's gonna accept you no matter what. He loves you, even though he's pretty shit at showing it" BJ sighed. Lydia punched his shoulder lightly.

"Aww, look at you, getting all soft" She chuckled at him. He sat bolt upright and summoned a snake, placing it on her chest. He heard her gasp and saw her freeze, making him cackle like the evil brat he was.

"Call me soft again and I'll make it eat you when you're sleeping"

It was late by the time Charles got home that night. Most of the family had gone to bed already, leaving Lydia sitting alone in the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate as she waited for her father to arrive. She flinched when she heard the front door open, turning around to see Charles walk into the kitchen, setting his briefcase down on the table. 

"Hey dad" Lydia mumbled, her nerves starting to attack her again. 

"Hey sweetheart, have a good day?" He asked, a small, tired smile on his face as he sat next to her. He always stayed up late, even if he was tired.

"I... kinda need to tell you something. Something important" She mumbled, staring intently at her hot chocolate. She vaguely noted that this was sort of similar to the night where Delia found her in the bathroom and they had a really long talk that she barely remembers. Charles' face immediately filled with concern as he turned to face his daughter fully.

"What's wrong? Is it something at school? Someone at school?" He asked quickly, making Lydia smile slightly.

"No, no, nothing like that. School's fine and so are most people in it. It's just... I've been thinking a lot about myself recently, not in the self-centred way though, and I..." She trailed off, holding her breath for a few seconds. Charles waited patiently.

"I think that I'm... gay?" It came out as more of a question as Lydia whispered it quietly. She stared down at her drink, chewing her lip anxiously.

"I'm... I mean, are you sure? You're sure that this isn't just a phase? You've been through a lot these past few years, are you sure it's not just-"

"Dad. I'm gay" She said more forcefully, cutting him off. She slowly glanced up from her drink to see her father with a confused and slightly hurt face. He rose from his seat silently. Lydia felt her eyes start burning with tears.

"Dad-"

"I'm going to bed. I... I can't talk to you right now. Goodnight" He left quickly, marching up the stairs. Lydia heard his bedroom door close as tears slipped down her face. She gripped her hair and yanked it, sobbing silently. What the fuck was she meant to do now?

She hadn't even bothered to clean up the kitchen before she ran upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom, making sure that the door was locked this time. She looked in the mirror, ignoring the tear stains that lead down her face and stared at her reflection.

"I'm gay" She whispered to herself. Hearing herself say those words and actually seeing herself say them made her feel sick. 

"I'm gay. I'm gay, I'm gay, I'm fucking gay!" She exclaimed louder before punching the mirror with her entire force. It cracked around her fist, cutting and stabbing into her hand. She pulled her hand down and saw the blood dripping from the wounds. She ignored the glass that was stuck in her hand before grabbing a loose shard and dragging it along her wrist. She gasped at the relief she felt from it, fully noticing the blood spilling from her wrist and hand. She continued to slice the glass along her right wrist, desperate for it to fix her. Make her normal. She didn't want to be broken anymore.

Before she knew it, her entire arm was dripping with blood, coating the sink and parts of the floor with the deep crimson. She felt dizzy, but she didn't care. Her father hated her, the one person who was meant to care for her always now hated her. She was pathetic, useless, stupid, wasteful, disgusting-

She crashed to the floor, her blood pooling around her. Had she finally gone too far? She hoped so as she passed out.

BJ heard the sound of glass breaking from across the hall and immediately knew that something was wrong. He raced along the hallway to the bathroom door and tried to open it, cursing when it was locked. He heard the Deetz's door open and soon, Charles and Delia were beside him. Delia quickly took out a hairpin and started to work on unlocking the door. She knew what she was doing. For whatever reason. BJ turned to Charles, whose face was pale and panicked.

"What did you say to her?" Charles shook his head slightly, staring at the locked doorknob.

"It's my fault. Oh God, it's my fault" He whispered to himself. There was a thud inside the room and a moment later, Delia had the door open. The trio all gasped. The mirror was broken, there was blood filling the sink and then... there was the youngest Deetz, passed out on the floor in a pool of her own blood that was coming from multiple wounds on her right arm. Delia was the first to react, quickly grabbing towels and wrapping the young girl's arm in them, tying them tightly to try and stop the blood flow. BJ acted next, grabbing the landline phone and calling for an ambulance. Charles stayed still, staring at his daughter. His whole world. Laying in her own blood because he couldn't face the fact that she liked girls. He had a plan in his head since Emily and himself had found out that they were having a girl. She'd grow up in New York, meet a boy who was respectful and had a good job, they'd get married and have kids and they'd all live happily forever after.

He needed to face the facts. Emily was gone. New York was gone. His stupid plan was gone. His daughter should be allowed to love whoever she wanted and he shouldn't have any negative say in it. He wanted to support her, no matter what. 

If she made it to tomorrow...

Through his demon magic, BJ followed the ambulance to the hospital. Delia had gone with Lydia and Charles said that he needed to do something before he could go. BJ had growled at the man before following his best friend. Whatever Chuck had said had sent her into a meltdown and now, none of them were sure if she'd make it. BJ knew what would happen if she didn't and it scared him. The eternity of being a social servant in the Netherworld was enough to make anyone want to bring themselves back to life and deal with whatever they had been before. 

The ambulance arrived and whisked Lydia into emergency surgery. BJ made himself visible to Delia as they sat and waited.

"You know, don't you?" Delia asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence had passed. BJ gave her a confused look.

"That she's... not straight" The older woman lowered her voice, not wanting to draw attention from other people around them. She'd been smart enough to pretend that she was on the phone so nobody would think that she was insane and talking to herself. BJ nodded slowly.

"She told you that she was going to tell Charles, didn't she?" She asked and again, BJ nodded. Delia sighed deeply, slumping down in her shitty plastic chair.

"He came to our room after he talked to her. He just sat at the edge of the bed, staring at a photo of himself, Emily and Lydia. I could almost hear the cogs turning in his head. He sighed before standing up and saying 'I think I've made a bad mistake' and that's when we heard the first crack. I genuinely saw the colour leaving his face when we left the room and saw you at the bathroom. I just... I don't know what happened" She sighed once more. 

"I want to know what's keeping him at the house and not here with his fucking daughter" BJ growled before slumping down in a chair next to Delia.

Charles had never been good with his emotions. He sat at the kitchen table, a pen in his hand as he tried to write out what he could say to Lydia once she woke up. She would wake up. He knew she would. She had to. There were crumpled up pages of his failed attempts surrounding his workspace. He had the idea that he wanted to get out, but he just didn't know how to execute it. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry for how he reacted and that he accepted her and loved her no matter what, but he didn't know how to make it meaningful. He sat there, the pen against his temple, trying to connect it to his brain and get his thoughts out onto the pages. He'd stay up all night to get this finished. He needed to.

It had been five hours since the doctors had taken Lydia into emergency surgery. BJ and Delia slept in turns, BJ knowing to wake Delia if a doctor came and Delia knowing to do the same, but more subtlely. Finally, a doctor had come to talk when both of them were awake.

"Mrs Deetz? Your daughter is in stable condition, but she's still unconscious as of now. I can take you to see her if you'd like-" The doctor had barely finished his sentence before Delia and BJ had sprung up from their chairs, desperate to see the young girl. The doctor, Doctor Keet, BJ noted, led them down multiple hallways until he stopped at a door at the very end of one. He stepped into the room and held the door open, BJ entering first so he didn't get a face full of door. And there Lydia lay, pale and small against the large hospital bed and machinery. Delia sat down on one side of her, BJ sitting at the opposite. 

"Staff will be coming to check on her every so often, so don't be alarmed if the door just opens. It's not haunted here" Doctor Keet gave a small smile before leaving the room. There was silence once more, the only noise being the beeping of Lydia's heart rate. BJ sighed. He'd never been so glad to hear someone's heart beating. 

"She..." Delia sighed shakily, gently taking Lydia's left hand into her own. BJ could see the tears in the older woman's eyes.

"She just looks so small and fragile. I wish I could protect her from the world, but... the universe isn't always as kind as we'd like it to be" She whispered, staring at her step-daughters bandaged arm. She lightly traced her finger over some older scars that scattered the youngest Deetz's left arm, closing her eyes. BJ didn't know what to say, so for once, he stayed silent. 

The doctors came in frequently, checking on Lydia's vitals and other crap that BJ knew nothing about. They said that she was making slow process into waking up, but that it was to be expected. It had been another two hours before Charles arrived, his eyes bloodshot, his face raked with tear marks and a letter, clutched tightly in his hands. He opened the door and froze completely at the sight of his daughter and BJ could see the tears forming in the older man's eyes again, but that didn't stop the rage that bubbled inside him. He felt the heat burn into his hair as he glared at the man, knowing that it had turned bright red when Delia's eyes widened. Charles closed the door and stepped beside his wife.

"H-Have they said anything? Is she going to be alright?" Charles was a strong man, but his voice deceived him and came off as weak and vulnerable. Delia took his free hand, making him sit in the chair next to her.

"They said that she was in stable condition. The doctors are constantly coming back and forth, doing tests and things like that. We're all just waiting for her to wake up now" She explained. Charles just nodded, staring at his daughter. Until BJ cleared his throat loudly.

"So, Chuck. Wanna tell me why the fuck this happened, because I sure as hell can't figure it out. Your daughter, your ONLY daughter, tells you somethin' super important to her and you... what? Tell her that you can't even look at her? And then, when she has to be taken to the hospital because she felt so shitty about herself, because of you, that she tried to end her own fuckin' life, you... stayed at home and left your wife to deal with it? What kind of fuckin' bullshit is that? Huh? Because I'm pretty fuckin' sure that's not something a father should do. I don't know because I never met my father, but I'm fairly sure that they ain't meant to make you feel like that. Why does it matter if she likes girls? You ain't got a say in that, that's her life and her business. You know, she came to talk to me before she told you? She was so scared that you were gonna be a dick about it, so scared that she hadn't been able to eat or sit still all day. I caught her having a panic attack about an hour before you came in from work and I had to convince her that you'd be fine with it, because why wouldn't you? Huh, Chuck? Why did you have to go and be such a dick and screw over your own fucking daughter's life-"

"Beetlejuice, that's enough!" Delia yelled over the demon, who had been getting louder and angrier with each sentence. His hair was almost on fire and his fists were clutched so tightly that his already pale knuckles had turned chalk white. He glanced up at Charles, who he now noticed was crying. He'd never seen that man cry... it made him uncomfortable.

"I-I know. I know that I've fucked up majorly here. I didn't mean for her to see it as if I was against her being who she is. I just... I needed time to wrap my head around it. I love her. She's... she's my whole world. She's all I have left of Emily. She's always going to be the most important person in the world to me and I've managed to mess it all up. I need to make things right, that's why I didn't come here immediately. I needed to figure out what to say to her when she wakes up, to show her that I'll always love her, no matter what and that I'm here to support her. You're right, she is my daughter. And I... I need to make sure that she knows that I'll always be here for her" He stumbled his way through his answer, avoiding eye-contact with BJ or Delia, focusing his gaze upon his daughter. BJ's hair faded from it's extravagant red to a calmer, but still mad orange shade. He was still pissed, but he understood... slightly. 

The trio had fallen asleep after their shouting match. None of them had slept for the entire night, so they all needed rest. Surprisingly, demons needed the same amount of rest as breathers did. That meant that none of them were awake when Lydia finally came around. Her heart monitor started to increase because, the last time she'd been in a hospital, it was when her mother took her final breathes. The beeping managed to stir Delia awake, who squinted at the bright, white light of the hospital room before literally jumping out of her chair at the sight of her step-daughter, awake.

"Oh my God, Lydia, sweetheart, you gave us all such a fright!" She exclaimed, placing her hand over her heart. Lydia could only reply with an awkward smile. Delia noticed that she was staring directly at her father's sleeping form, so she dunted her husband in the shoulder, making him shoot awake. She clicked her fingers and suddenly, BJ was awake too. BJ's eyes widened at the sight of is BFFFFF forever and Charles sighed shapely, clutching the chair's arm tightly. 

"Jesus fuck, Scarecrow!" BJ yelled before pouncing on the young girl. He made sure to make himself semi-solid so she wouldn't be crushed completely. Lydia laughed softly, wrapping her good arm around the emotional demon, who Delia now realised was crying. She wasn't sure how long the hug had gone on for, until Lydia slowly pushed the demon off of her. He pouted in response, making her smile. Her smile dropped when she looked at her father, immediately dropping her gaze to the blanket she was under. 

"Hey, Dad..." She mumbled quietly. Delia glanced at her husband and she could see the cogs turning in his head once again.

"Hey, BJ? How about we give these two a minute to talk" She said softly, gently taking the demon's hand and leading him out of the room. He tried to protest, but reluctantly agreed and left.

Charles sat down at the edge of Lydia's bed. She picked at the fabric of the blanket, avoiding eye contact. Charles sighed deeply before looking at the letter he was holding. He scanned over the words before placing it down next to him.

"Lydia... I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen" He started to tear up almost immediately, his voice weak and shaky. Lydia looked up briefly, shocked to hear her father so vulnerable. He'd only seemed like this once before, in the Netherworld when she was trying to find her mom. 

"What you told me doesn't change the fact that you're still my daughter. I never meant for my reaction to come across as if I wasn't okay with you being who you are, I... I just needed time to process what you had told me. I never meant for... for all this to happen. I want you to know that I'm here for you. And I will always be here for you and that I support you, because that's what a father is meant to do. I love you and I don't tell you that enough. I love you, Lydia. You mean the world to me. I'm so sorry that I made you feel so bad about yourself that you resorted to hurting yourself. I'm sorry that I didn't think about your feelings before I spoke and... I'm sorry that I hurt you" Charles was crying by the time he finished his speech. He hadn't said what he wrote, Lydia could tell by the emotions he was spilling. She noticed that she was crying too and took a deep breath before looking at her father properly for the first time.

"I'm not gonna say that it's all okay. Because it's not. But, I forgive you. I know that you weren't trying to be cruel and I know that you love me. And, I love you too. I was... just, so scared that you'd hate me. That you'd disown me or kick me out or say that I was disappointing you and mom" Her voice broke, tears slipping down her face faster. Charles gently pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly. She sobbed quietly into his shoulder, holding onto him just as tightly with one arm. They stayed like that for a few moments, until they had both calmed their tears.

"It's weird. Your mother always knew that there was something different about you. Not in a bad way, but it's like she could tell. She always knew what was going on inside of your head. She was much better at that stuff than I am. More in tune with her emotions. Before... before she passed, she gave me this-" He pulled a small item from his jacket pocket, holding it out in his palm for Lydia to see. It was a small rainbow-themed pin that she could put on her school bag. She gently picked it up and examined it.

"-She said that it was 'Just in case'. I never thought more of it again until I had gone up to my room after you had told me. I looked at a picture of the three of us, the one from your tenth birthday. You had the biggest grin on your face at the sight of your cake and it made Emily and I smiled too. And, it made me remember the pin and I realised that my reaction had been selfish. I was about to go and speak to you again, but that's when..." He trailed off and Lydia knew exactly what he was referring to. She carefully buried herself into her fathers embrace once more, holding him close.

Eventually, a set of icy arms joined the embrace, shortly followed by a much warmer pair.

And the small group stayed like that for what seemed like hours. 


End file.
